This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention disclosed below. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously implemented, conceived, or described. Therefore, unless otherwise explicitly indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The following abbreviations that may be found in the specification and/or the drawing figures are defined as follows:                3DES triple data encryption standard        3GPP third generation partnership project        A2 sample receiving application        AES advanced encryption standard        APN access point name        BTS base transceiver station        CBC cipher-block chaining        CN core network        DL downlink        ECP extended cyclic prefix        E-UTRA evolved universal terrestrial radio access        eNB or eNodeB evolved node B/base station in an E-UTRAN system        EPC evolved packet core        EPS evolved packet system        E-UTRAN evolved UTRAN (LTE)        GGSN gateway GPRS support node        Gi interface to external packet data networks (Internet)        GPRS general packet radio service        HE header enrichment        HMAC hash-based message authentication code        ID identification, identifier        IP internet protocol        LTE long term evolution        LTE-A long term evolution advanced        MCS modulation and coding scheme        MD5 message digest algorithm        PDN packet data network        PDP packet data protocol        P-GW packet data network gateway        QoS quality of service        RACS radio application cloud server        RAN radio access network        RF radio frequency        RNC radio network controller        SGSN serving GPRS support node        S-GW serving gateway        SHA secure hash algorithm        SIPTO selected IP traffic offload        SMS short message service        TCP transport control protocol        TOF traffic offload        UE user equipment (e.g. mobile terminal)        UL uplink        UMTS universal mobile telecommunications system        UTRAN universal terrestrial radio access network        
In the wireless communications industry, traditional design philosophies are based upon building function-specific hardware platforms. This is in contrast to the field of computing where software applications are emphasized far more than the hardware used to run the applications. However, the wireless industry can no longer afford to build dedicated elements that serve singular functions and scale only as far as their allotted capacities. Moreover, conventional design approaches are based upon meeting worst-case scenarios. In practice, these approaches are rather inefficient. A network designed to meet the highest traffic demand during peak hours will have excess unused capacity throughout the remainder of the day.